Speedway: A Little means a lot

Newcastle captain Kevin Little has declared himself fit for his team's busy schedule of three Premier League matches on successive nights, much to the relief of the KBS Diamonds manager George English.

Newcastle captain Kevin Little has declared himself fit for his team's busy schedule of three Premier League matches on successive nights, much to the relief of the KBS Diamonds manager George English.

Newcastle visit the Arena-Essex Hammers this evening, move around the M25 to the Rye House Rockets tomorrow, and then return home to face the favourites for the League title, the Isle of Wight Islanders, on Sunday.

The trip to Arena-Essex offers the KBS Diamonds the chance of swift revenge after the Hammers knocked them out in the Cup quarter-final at Brough Park on Monday.

Little missed that match because of his damaged ribs from a crash in the final of last Friday's Scottish Open and a longer spell off the track would have been very awkward for Newcastle.

English said: "We're without Kenneth Bjerre for all three of these matches because of his World Cup duties for Denmark and although we've arranged three good guests to replace him our team would have looked extremely unusual if Kevin was still on the injured list as well.

"I know Kevin is really keen to improve on the five points he scored at Arena-Essex in the first leg of the Cup tie and the whole team should be able to do a lot better than the 55-41 defeat we suffered that night.

"We usually regard Arena-Essex as one of our favourite away tracks."

Lee Dicken and Jamie Robertson have also recovered from the knocks they suffered during Monday's match and Swindon's Oliver Allen is tonight's guest replacing Bjerre.

But Arena-Essex have been able to name Joonas Kylmakorpi in their line-up this evening even though Kylmakorpi will be riding for Finland against Bjerre and the rest of the Danish team on Sunday afternoon.

English added: "It's frustrating to see Kylmakorpi in the Hammers team but they can't be blamed for using him.

"It's simply the case that Finland aren't blocking their World Cup riders from club matches but the Danes are strictly enforcing their 48-hour rule, especially as they are the World Cup hosts."